Dante stood on the steps of the Lord’s Keep, reading the regional chat.

The three largest guilds on the server; Vanguard’s Legacy, the Black Dragon Syndicate, and the Apex Coalition were mobilizing an alliance.

The logistics of coordinating thousands of hostile players across different geopolitical zones was staggering.

It meant Silas, Ryujin, and Gawain had swallowed their massive egos and agreed to work together.

And they were marching directly toward the eastern swamps.

"They know," Dante murmured, closing the interface.

The Zenith Protocol didn’t keep SSS-Rank regional quests a secret. When Dante accepted the black scroll from the City Lord, the system likely updated the global API, flagging the Sunken Necropolis of Vane as an active objective.

Silas had analysts parsing that data. He knew exactly where Dante was going.

"Three armies to kill one guy," Dante smirked. "Silas is getting desperate."

He didn’t care about the armies. With his [Chrono-Shift] talent and [Voidsever], he could wipe thousands of players without breaking a sweat.

The real problem was the strict system requirement for the quest.

He needed a three-person party to open the crypt doors.

Dante opened his friend list and sent a message.

[Dan: I need you for a run. SSS-Rank containment quest in the eastern swamps. Meet me in the auction house district.]

He didn’t have to wait long for a reply.

[Lila: Dante, are you crazy?! Did you not read the regional chat? The three biggest guilds on the server are marching an entire army to that exact swamp to kill you! If I go with you, they’ll put a bounty on me too!]

[Dan: You have Dark Demon armor. You cast gravity magic without chanting. And I have Zenith-tier AoE. They aren’t an army, Lila. They’re a EXP farm. Besides, the quest requires three mana signatures to open the door. I literally can’t do it without you.]

There was a long pause.

[Lila: ...Sera is going to murder me if I die and lose that chest piece. I’ll meet you by the eastern blacksmith in ten minutes.]

Dante smiled, closing the chat. Lila was terrified of confrontation, but she was practical. The loot from an SSS-Rank crypt would set her up for the rest of the cycle.

He walked down the steps of the Keep, heading toward the bustling auction house district.

He still needed a third player.

Finding a tank who wasn’t affiliated with the major guilds and wouldn’t immediately sell his coordinates to Silas was going to be difficult.

Most high-level independent players were currently in the Frostfire Steppes, trying to pick up the scraps Dante had left behind.

He reached the auction house district. It was a massive, open-air plaza filled with player-run stalls, NPC merchants, and a constant, deafening roar of haggling voices.

As Dante navigated the crowd, a loud, highly energetic voice cut through the noise.

"I’m telling you, it’s not broken! It’s an anomaly! You just have to appraise it correctly!"

Dante stopped. He knew that voice.

He turned toward a nearby NPC blacksmith stall.

Standing in front of the heavy iron anvil, arguing passionately with the burly, soot-covered NPC, was Mei.

The Hua Nation brawler was wearing the same bright red combat tunic and baggy trousers. Hovering directly above her head, his tiny arms crossed in absolute indignation, was Pip, the miniature red dragon.

"I cannot appraise cookware, Outworlder," the NPC blacksmith grunted, wiping his forehead with a dirty rag. "This is a forge. I repair armor and sharpen blades. Take your frying pan to the culinary district."

"It’s not cookware!" Pip shrieked, flying down to yell directly in the NPC’s face. "It is the God-Slaying Skillet! It is an indestructible instrument of localized blunt-force trauma!"

Dante watched the interaction with mild amusement.

Mei didn’t have the frying pan. Dante remembered why. She had literally thrown the massive, cast-iron skillet onto the ground and ran for her life in the Frostfire Steppes.

Dante had vacuumed the "Universal Anomaly" into his infinite inventory after the fight.

"They’re trying to figure out how to get a replacement," Dante realized.

"Look, just hit a piece of iron with your hammer and shape it like a circle," Mei pleaded, slamming her hands on the counter. "I’ll pay you fifty silver! I just need something to block with! I feel naked without it!"

"I am a master weaponsmith," the NPC said, crossing his thick arms. "I do not forge skillets. Please leave."

Mei groaned, throwing her head back in frustration. "Pip, this is a disaster. I can’t fight without the pan. My entire build is structured around reflecting kinetic force. If we don’t get it back, we can’t farm the mid-game zones."

"We’ll find him, Mei," Pip assured her, landing on her shoulder. "The shiny edgelord with the big sword. He has to come back to the city eventually to sell his loot. When he does, we’ll ambush him and take it back!"

Dante casually stepped out of the crowd, walking up behind Mei.

"You guys really need to work on your situational awareness," Dante said.

Mei froze. She spun around, her eyes wide.

Pip let out a high-pitched squeak, instantly hiding behind Mei’s twin buns.

"You!" Mei yelled, pointing a finger at Dante’s glowing gold armor. "You stole my skillet!"

"You threw it on the ground and ran away," Dante corrected her smoothly. "I simply collected abandoned loot to keep the server clean."

"Give it back!" Mei demanded, dropping into a low, aggressive combat stance, raising her bare fists.

"You’re a Brawler," Dante said. "You rely entirely on reflecting physical blows. The pan is your primary defensive mechanic."

"So what if it is?" Mei scowled.

"So, I have a proposition," Dante said, pulling up his system interface. He initiated a party invite, sending it directly to her ID.

Mei looked at the glowing blue prompt hovering in front of her face.

[Party Invitation: Dan]

"I need a vanguard," Dante explained casually. "I have an SSS-Rank containment quest in the eastern swamps.

The entrance requires three mana signatures to open. I have a DPS support. I need someone to stand in the front and block physical strikes."

Mei stared at him like he was crazy. "You want me to tank an SSS-Rank dungeon for you? After you nearly cleaved me in half with a skyscraper?"

"I’ll give you the frying pan back right now," Dante offered.

Pip popped his head out from behind Mei’s hair. "Wait. You’ll just give it back? No extortion? No ridiculous gold fee?"

"I have no use for a cast-iron skillet," Dante said. "But I do have use for a player who can perfectly block kinetic impacts.

You tank the crypt, you get your weapon back, and you get an equal cut of whatever loot drops inside. I just need the quest completion."

Mei looked at Pip. The tiny dragon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"He’s offering a clean split on an SSS-Rank dungeon, Mei," Pip whispered loudly. "That’s endgame loot. We could buy a hundred hotpots with that kind of currency."

Mei turned back to Dante. She dropped her combat stance.

"Fine," Mei said, hitting the ’Accept’ button on the party invite. "But if you try to hit me with that giant sword again, I’m letting the boss eat you."

"Deal," Dante smiled.

He opened his infinite inventory, reached into the void ring, and pulled out the massive, four-foot-wide cast-iron frying pan. He held it out.

Mei snatched it from his hands, hugging the heavy black metal to her chest like a lost child.

"I missed you so much," Mei cooed to the cookware.

Dante shook his head. "Let’s go. We’re meeting our third at the eastern gate."

He led the brawler and her tiny dragon through the crowded auction house district.

They reached the massive steel gates leading out to the eastern swamps just as Lila arrived.

Lila was still wearing her basic beginner robes, clutching her wooden staff nervously.

"Dante," Lila said, hurrying over. She stopped when she saw Mei and Pip. "Who is this?"

"This is Mei," Dante introduced. "She’s our tank."

Lila looked at the girl in the red tunic holding a giant frying pan. Then she looked at Dante. "A brawler? With a pan? Dante, we’re going into an SSS-Rank Necropolis. Are you sure about this?"

"Hey! The God-Slaying Skillet is a Universal Anomaly!" Pip defended indignantly, flying up to Lila’s face. "Show some respect, blue hair!"

Lila took a step back, startled by the talking pet. "Okay. Sorry."

Dante pulled out the three glowing blue crystals the City Lord had given him. He tossed one to Lila and one to Mei.

"Emergency extraction talismans," Dante explained. "If the necrotic corruption in the crypt gets too heavy, or if the boss triggers an unavoidable wipe mechanic, crush the crystal.

It will instantly teleport you back to this exact spot in Ironhold. Do not hesitate to use it."

Mei pocketed the crystal. "Got it. So, where is this swamp?"

Dante opened his digital map, sharing the waypoint with the party. The Sunken Necropolis of Vane was located deep within a toxic marshland fifty miles to the east.

"It’s a long walk," Lila noted, looking at the distance.

"We aren’t walking," Dante said.

He looked toward the horizon. The sky was clear, but the regional chat was still actively tracking the massive, combined army of Vanguard’s Legacy, the Black Dragon Syndicate, and the Apex Coalition.

They were currently marching on foot, moving an incredibly slow, heavily armored force across the map.

"They’re going to try and set up a perimeter around the swamp," Dante analyzed. "They want to bottleneck us before we can even reach the dungeon entrance."

Dante activated the [Mantle of the Void-Dragon].

"Mei, grab my left arm," Dante ordered. "Lila, grab the right. Hold on tight."

The two girls exchanged a confused look but followed his instructions, gripping his dark purple gauntlets.

"What are you?" Mei started.

Dante inverted the gravity around his avatar.

The heavy, starry fabric of the cloak violently flared. They didn’t jump. They launched.

Dante shot straight up into the air, carrying both girls and the tiny dragon with him. The sudden, violent acceleration caused a sonic boom, shattering the cobblestones near the city gates.

They soared high above Ironhold, breaking through the cloud cover in a matter of seconds.

"AHHHHHHH!" Casanova’s terrified scream from somewhere completely unrelated seemed to resound the sentiment, as Lila squeezed her eyes shut and Mei laughed hysterically at the sudden, extreme altitude.

Dante banked sharply to the east, his flight speed scaling off his massive Agility stat.

"We’re flying right over their blockade," Dante yelled over the roaring wind. "We hit the crypt, we clear the boss, and we deal with the army when we come back out."

He didn’t care how many thousands of players Silas had mobilized. He had his vanguard, he had his gravity mage, and he had a date with a Necropolis.